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One of my students, Courtney from Bennington College in VT, is doing a semester-long ethnographic and anthropological study of the American expatriate community in Beijing. It’s a part of her senior thesis, and she has been combing the city interviewing Beijing-based American expats. But we need a few more… If anybody is interested in helping out [...] From the SFist blog: It was called the Princess Taiping and its mission was to complete a round trip journey from Taiwan to prove that Chinese sailors may have reached North America before Columbus. Well, sadly (but also comically), in the waters just off Taiwan, the Princess Taiping was struck by a freighter and sunk just [...] The Oberlin Memorial Arch, erected in 1903 to remember 13 missionaries killed in the Boxer Uprising of 1900, has occasionally sparked controversy and debate at the picturesque and progressive Ohio school. As part of the graduation processional route, stepping through or around the arch depends on one’s views on the complicated historical symbolism of the [...] This week I have a column in the recently unveiled English-language edition of The Global Times. This is a new gig and we’ll see how it goes. The first column is my thoughts on Timothy Garton Ash’s recent piece in The Guardian discussing overseas media coverage and China. My personal take is that quality of [...] April 18th marks the beginning of two administrations in Chinese political history. It was on this date in 1927 that Chiang Kai-shek established his government in Nanjing following the success of the Northern Expedition and a bloody purge of the Communists from the KMT ranks. 32 years later, Liu Shaoqi emerged from the political infighting in the wake of [...] Today I flagged a cab to head over to the new US Embassy (a building with all the charm of a medium-security prison for Midwestern tax cheats glorious symbol of American freedom, F–k yeah!) and my driver was perplexed even though I had carefully explained in Chinese how to get there. Now this is hardly [...] On April 17, 1895, Japan and the Qing Empire signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki, ending the Sino-Japanese War which had been a disaster for the Qing from start to finish. The war began when the Qing court and the Japanese government vied for the role of “protector” of Korea, a longtime tributary state of [...] Today marks 20 years since the death of Hu Yaobang, former General Secretary of the CCP and one of Deng Xiaoping’s key allies in inaugurating the Reform and Opening Era. Hu was a fascinating figure, he was one of the youngest survivors (barely) of the Long March and a long-serving political cadre whose own career [...] From Xinhua: A Chinese history academic is refuting the modern interpretation of the First Emperor’s terracotta army, saying the figures are servants and bodyguards, instead of warriors as many people believe. “The clay figures should be taken as copies of the emperor’s guards and servants,” said Liu Jiusheng, associate professor of history at Shaanxi Normal [...] Wang Fuzhi (王夫之, 1619–1692, courtesy name, Ernong 而农, he also styled himself Chuanshan 船山) was witness to a calamity — the fall of the Ming Empire first to the bandit armies of Li Zicheng and subsequently to the Manchu ‘peacekeeping forces’ under the regent Dorgon. He became active in the anti-Manchu resistance and when the [...] I’m still in Pingyao so here’s one more from the archives. It’s one of my favorites. ————————– “People ask for criticism, but they only want praise.” – Somerset Maugham “As a scientific truth, Marxism fears no criticism.” – Mao Zedong As sometimes happens with couples, by 1956 the relationship between Mao and the Party had begun to suffer from [...] Today is the Qingming “Tomb Sweeping” Festival, which is a day to honor the dearly departed. It’s also a day with political significance, particularly after the death of a popular leader. This post, originally published on the anniversary of Zhou Enlai’s death (January 8, 2007) looks at the legacy of Zhou Enlai and how the [...] I’m off on another student trip, this time a weekend visit to the historic city of Pingyao in Shanxi province. I’ve always wanted to go and with spring finally hitting the North China Plain, it looks to be a lovely weekend. Apart from the lovely architecture and a well-preserved set of city walls (Pingyao is one [...] I’m used to having history get mangled in the newspapers, goodness knows the People’s Daily does it all the time, but this piece in the New York Times by IHT art editor Souren Melikian probably deserves a special award of some kind. For example: At the height of its maximum extension around the first or second century A.D., [...] |
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